Insulator-clamp.



E2 5. HATCH. msuLAmR CLAMP. I APPLICATION ilm AUG-I9; 1913. v 1,1 90,763, Patented July 11, 1916.

2 SHEETQ-SHEET l- E. G. HATCH. msumon CLAMP.

APPLlCATlON FILED A'UG.9. l9l3.

1,190,763. Patented July 11,1916.

2 SHEETS-SHEET 2.

STATES PATENT ()FFIGE.

Enwm G. narcmorzmwtonx, N. Y., assrenon 'ro CLARK ELECTRIC H racru'nme conrm, or

' To aZZ'whom z it may concern: I

Be it .known that I, EDWING. HATCH, a citizen of the United States, and a resident of the borough of Brooklyn, county of- Kings, cityandState of New York, have invented certain new and useful Improve- .l .for attaching lan'electric. .conductorto insu- .mentsin Insulator-Clamps, of which the followingis a'specification accompanied by drawin lators, generally lmown as'tlie pin type of insulator. f p

' The objects "of the-invention areto protect 'the'lin'e conductor from mechanical or i electrical injury at or 'in the vicinity. of the 3 insulator top.

rWhereyer electric power lines ,cro ss' telephone ortelegraph lines, there is generally 32o dangerlto these latter systems in the event of the power conductor-breaking, especially 35' I either mechanical or electrical causes.

if this conductor be of a high tension, in Whiehcase its contact with the telephone or telegraphfl lines would: make them most dangerous, but injury maybe caused to person's as well as damage to the line, causing! interruption of service. It is also necessary that .electric lines crossing railroadi right. of: way: shall befirmly attached to the insu- :30

-' not break andpossibly fall on the steel locolators in order that the electric lines may motive and thus become grounded and endanger the 1 persons in the locomotive and the train.

. An electric line is liable to break, dua ltlo e conductor may rub against the insulator below the conductor, because any are formed *line wlre fuses on the insulator head, then top and so be gradually worn away. For this I .ij-re'ason, it is desirable to clamptheconductor .40

bushing between the clamping members and -the conductor itself. This bushing serves the further purpose of protecting the COI1-' ductor against any slight electrical punc-' tightly in place, preferably providing a ture through the insulator head and directly will form from the bushing, rather than "from the conductor itself. In case the short circuit through the insulatorv head should be ver' severe and continued, .so that the Specification of Letters latent.

I Patented July 11,1916. Application filed August 9,1913. Serial No. 788,993. V

nn MANU- new YORK, n.1, a conronarron or NE YORK.

INSULATOR-CLAMP.

the clamping members would still hold the r line wire in. position, because these members are ordinarily deslgned extra. heavy and with largeheat radiating surfaces.

One of the primary objects of. this inventionis to provide the insulator clamp with protect ve extension members extendlng longitudmally in the direction of the hne wire or conductor. The extension members below the conductor extend in the general direction along the line and beyond the plane of the but do not extend at right angles tothe line, that is, across the insulator at right angles to the line.. These extension; members below the llne are provided to protect the con-' dui'ctor from the in urious effects of arcs whlch may form to ground.

In the event of an electric surge in the any periphery of the insulator,

transmission line or veryhigh voltage caused by lightning or some other distur mg element, this voltage being higher than that for which-the insulators have been supplied, an arc is very likely to jump to ground and since the extension members on the clamp are lower than the line, the arc will form from the clamp to the ground,

rather than from the line to the ground, so that the line is protected in this way. The

extension members may be formed of cheaper metal than the line, which is an economy.

Devices depending on'cemente d caps to' hold them to the insulators have been discarded in many instances as being unsafe and likely to work loose and it has been found much better to-use clamps of suitable strength, which maybe fastened to the insulator heads and which cannot work loose therefrom. In accordance with this invention, these'insulator clamps which clamp directly to the insulator are provided with the protective extension members. Although the line is protected from arcs, no members are extended out at right angles to the line to extend beyond the insulators, because the use ofthese transverse extensions has. been found notonly to be unnecessary, but is in effect rather amenace than otherwise, as

inviting the formation of arcs which are likely to do damage. It has been found to be much better to supply insulators hav ng a high factor of safety, as regards electrical strength and thus protect the lines, rather than to have arcs form and take Chan-Les I with them.

The inventlon is illustrated in some of its preferred forms in the accompanyingdrawings, in which- Figure 1,is' a side elevation of aclamp embodying the invention; Fig. 2 is an end elevation; Fig. 3 is a. top plan view; Fig. I is a side elevation of a modification; Fig. 5 is an end elevation of a modification of Fig. I; Fig. 6 is an end elevation of another modification; Fig. 7 is a detail side view or 'the protective plate shownin Fig. 6; Fig. 8 1s .a plan view of a moth ed form of plate;

Fig. 9 is a top plan view of a modification or the clamp shown in F1g. 6; Fig. 10 1s a side elevation of another modlfication; Fig.

'11 is atop plan view of Fig. 10; Fig. 12 is a side elevation of another modification; Fig.

13 is a perspective View of anothermodification.

Referring to the drawings and more par ticularly to Figs. 1, 2 ,anl 3, A represents an insulator shown in this instance as of the pin type, having the usual grooves 13' forming the neck of'the insulator and a groove C diametrically crosses the top of the insulator for the reception of the line wire.

The clamping members are shown in this instance provided with body portions D substantially encircling the insulator and jaws E for holding the. line wire or conductor F. In this lnstance the line wire is inclosed within a suitable bushing G which may or may not be used, as desired. The

jaws may be provided with clamping bolts rectionof the length of the line wire and underneath said wire. These protective extension members K should also extend well beyond the plane of the periphery of the insulator and serve to protect the conductor from the injurious eilect of arcs which may form to ground. As shown, these extension members K are of substan tial width at the base and taper toward the outer ends, which has been found to be a suitable construction, although the particular form of extensionmembers may be varied, as desired. These extension members in effect form plates or wings directly underneath the line wire and extending along the length of the line wire adjacent the insulator clamps. Each wing or extension member is necessarily bifurcated,

sion members K.

' extend,

since ti e LWO parts forming each wins are prmided on the two bod portions the clamping members.

In Fig. 4: a construction substantially like that shown in Fig. 1 is illustrated with the addition of longitudinally ext nding protective members 0 connecting the jaws E. These connecting protective members 0 further serve to protect the line wire from an are caused by a possible grounding from above. This might be caused by the wet branch of a tree or a'wire falling from above. I

.In Fig. 5 a modification of Fig. 4 shown in which the connecting members O are provided with outwardly extending exten- Thcse protective members K do not extend beyond the periphery of the insulator, so that they do not invite the formation of arcs which might do damage, but merely increase the protection afforded by the longitudinal connecting members O. i

As an additional protection, it is frequently desirable to provide a portion or portions of the clamp of considerable thickness to cover all or a large part of the insulator top, the conductor being placed above this thickened portion, sothat in the case of any puncture through the insulator head, the arc will form from this thickened portion of the clamp rather than from the line itself, thus protecting the line.

In Fig. 6 the protective cover for the insulator is shown at P and in detail in Fig. 7. This plate P may be provided with :1 diametrical rib or projection Q adapted to lie in the groove C of the insulator and is held down by the line wire F. Otherwise the construction of the clamp may be like that shown in the other figures. A modification of the plate P is shown in Fig. 8, in whic the plate is provided with notches Q into which the jaws of the clamping members In Fig. 9 a. modification of a construction is shown in which the plate R is formed as an integral part of one of the clamping members, secured directly to the jaws.

In Figs. 10 and 11 a modification is shown in which the jaw portions T of the clamping members are pivoted at U in any suitable manner to the body portions V. The clamping bolts U may in this instance form the pivots. These jaw portions T are provided with the extension members K extending underneath the line wire and-the jaw portions are also provided with the upwardly extending crossed extension members W, which serve to protect the line wire from above.

In Fig. 12 a modification is shown in which a third piece or plate X fits on top of the insulator between the insulator top 'and the conductor F and is provided with a rib or projection extending into the groove on the top of the insulator. In this modification the protective plate X may be held in position as by means of the lugs Y through which extendthe bottom bolts J. Obviously various means may be provided for holding the protective plate in position. i I

' In Fig. 13 another modification is shown in which a slightly different type of insulator clamp is provided with lower extension members. In this form of device, the curved body members a are held together by a bolt 6' at one end and areprovided at the other end with a seat'c against which clamps a shoe (Z. The line wire F'is. held between the seat a and the shoe a}. The body portions (1, of the clamping members are provided with the longitudinally extending members 6 which are bent downwardly and transversely to extend underneath the line wire F. These extension members E also extend beyond the plane of the periphery g' of the insulator and effect the same protection as afforded by the extension members Kand K in the other figures.

Obviously the improvements herein disclosed relating to protective extension members and connecting members may be applied, not only to rigid clamps or clamps having rigid clamping members, but may also be applied to insulator clamps in which the/clamping jaws are pivoted to the body portions, as illustrated in Fig. 10by way of example, and to clamping members which are flexible instead of rigid, the clamping functions of both rigid and flexible clamps being the same.

fl claim and desire to obtain by Letters Patent the following: I

1. An insulator clamp comprising two clamping members having jaws clamping to the conductor and both having body portions encircling the insulator neck and adapted to be secured thereon, said body portions of the clamping members both having separate and independent extension members connected directly thereto adjacent the said jaws and extending longitudinally of the conductor out of contact therewith beyond the periphery of the insulator. I

2. An insulator clamp comprising two clamping members having jaws clamping to the conductor and both having body portions encircling the insulator neck and adapted to be secured thereon, said body portions of the clamping members both having sep arate and independent extension members extending outwardly beyond the periphery of the insulatorlongitudinally below the conductor and out of contact therewith, to protect the conductor from the injurious effects of arcs which may form to ground. 3. An insulator clamp comprising two clamping members having body portions and jaws, said. jaws clamping to the conductor, and the body portions encircling the insulator neck and adapted to be secured thereon, said body portions both being provided with separate and independent extension mem bers, extending longitudinally below the conductor out of contact therewith and beyond the insulator to which the clamp issecured, to protect the conductor from the injurious effects of arcs' which may form to ground.

4. An insulator clamp comprising two clamping members clamping to the conductor and both encircling the insulator neck and adapted to be secured thereon, said clamping members both having extension members extending longitudinally above and below the conductor, the lower extensicn members projecting beyond the insulator to protect the conductor from the injurious eliects of arcs which may form to ground. V

5. An insulator clamp comprising two clamping members both encircling the insulato; neck and adapted to be secured thereon and having jaws for clamping to the conductor, connecting members connecting the jaws above the conductor, and extension members connected directly to both of the clamping members and extending longitudinally below the conductor beyond the plane oi the periphery of the insulator.

In testimony whereof have signed this specification 1n the presence of two subscribing witnesses. I v

EDWIN G. HATCH. \Vitnesses HERBERT G. OGDEN, M. M. RIEMANN. 

